


A Hebridean Rose

by dark_pookha



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Community: HPFT, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-22
Updated: 2016-07-22
Packaged: 2018-07-25 22:57:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 742
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7550476
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dark_pookha/pseuds/dark_pookha
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Aurors Harry and Ron investigate who has been placing flowers on Voldemort's gravesite</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Hebridean Rose

Harry and Ron shivered in the blustery wind of the Hebridean shore. Hidden behind a rock and additionally hidden under Harry’s invisibility cloak, they weren’t concerned with being spotted. Ron sipped tea from an insulated mug and whispered.  
  
“So, who do you think it will be?”  
  
Harry whispered back. “I suspect it’ll be some sympathiser, but not an actual Death Eater.”  
  
Ron nodded. “It’s weird though; not many people know where we spread his ashes.”  
  
“Yeah, Conner’s worried that we may have a leak in our inner circle.” He sighed. “I sure hope not, it was bad enough when we had to put down that last uprising.”  
  
“I can’t believe that there are so many people who still support him.” Ron closed the lid on his mug and put it back in his pocket.  
  
“There are always stupid and power-hungry people ready to follow a charismatic leader, even if he’s dead.” Harry kept his wand at the ready, ignoring the whipping wind that left his hand red and raw.  
  
“I think…” Ron started to say, but Harry shushed him.  
  
“That’s odd,” Harry whispered, even quieter than before.  
  
Ron craned his head and looked around, confident in his near invisibility. “I don’t see anything.”  
  
“That cat’s definitely out of place. Cover me. I’m going to have a closer look.” Harry Disillusioned and silenced himself with his wand and crept out from under the cloak toward a spectacled tabby that had slunk out from behind a small dune. He walked silently behind it, keeping pace. He recognised the cat and wondered what she was doing here. He knew Ron would keep him covered, but was sure he wouldn’t need him.  
  
He stopped just outside the spot where they had spread Voldemort’s ashes seven years ago and watched as the cat slowly morphed into Minerva McGonagall. She stood, straight and unstooped, her grey hair tightly wrapped in a bun and a heavy shawl over her black cloak. She reached into a pocket and pulled out a single white rose and laid it on the small, unmarked stone that was the only marker of Tom Riddle’s final resting place.  
  
“I remember,” she said. Harry only heard over the tempest because he stood just downwind.  
  
He stepped out from under his Disillusionment Charm. He kept his wand pointed at Minerva and spoke in a loud voice to carry over the wind.  
  
“What was I searching for when I came back to Hogwarts before the battle?”  
  
She turned, being careful to keep her hands down. “You were looking for Ravenclaw’s diadem because it was a Horcrux.”  
  
Harry lowered his wand. He started to speak.  
  
“I know what you’re thinking.” She put a hand on his shoulder. “You’re wondering why I’m putting a flower on Voldemort’s grave.”  
  
“Erm, something like that,” Harry said. She still had the ability to make him feel like a little boy with her gaze.  
  
“I’m sure you know that we went to Hogwarts together?”  
  
Harry nodded.  
  
“I remember him as a charming young man, a Prefect, and Head Boy. He was good at anything he tried and I had a school-girl crush on him.” She shook her head sadly. “Looking back, I believe that even then he knew what he was and was manipulating people.”  
  
Ron removed the cloak and moved to stand at Harry’s side.  
  
“He definitely already had fallen,” Harry said. “He’d already opened the Chamber of Secrets and killed Myrtle.”  
  
“And framed Hagrid for it,” Ron added.  
  
Minerva nodded. “I know all that, but sometimes in the night, I still picture him as the handsome young man that I knew and patrolled the hallways with as a Prefect.” She shivered.  
  
“Come on back with me to my house and we’ll all have tea before I go report to Conner.” Harry held out his hand to Minerva.  
  
“I’ll get the tea ready,” Ron said and Disapparated.  
  
Minerva hesitated before taking Harry’s hand.  
  
“I’ve seen some of what he was as a student, and I understand.” Harry pushed his hair back with his wand hand, revealing his scar. “But I also remember what he was at the end, and I know that’s how he always was, even when Professor Dumbledore first met him.”  
  
“I suppose you really can’t change people.” She squeezed Harry’s hand.  
  
He Disapparated with her to his warm house, where Ron already was preparing tea in the kitchen.  
  
On a Hebridean shore, a lone white rose blew into the sea.


End file.
